The Green Dragon Inn (1977)

When an evil land baron's son murders an innocent family, a Marshall is called in to escort him to be executed in the court of law far to the north. With the aid of an army of soldiers, the Marshall must fight off the Land Baron's assassins, who want to try and free his murderous son at every given chance.

About 99% of the martial arts movies with the words "Bruce", "Shaolin", and "Dragon" in the title have nothing to do with those things and this one is perhaps the most blatant example with the alternate title "Bruce is Loose".  There is no Bruce Lee in this movie.  However it is a kick ass Kung-Fu flick and it's a shame there is no widescreen DVD currently on the market. All you can find is a shitty Pan and Scan VHS copy of the film.

Produced by (Polly) Shaun Kuan, who also co-stars. ; Directed by legendary Shaw Bros. veteran King Hu.  It also has Lo Leih from "Five Fingers Of a Death" in a limited role but he kicks ass when he's on screen.   Yueh Hwa does a fine job as well as the determined hero.

There is an indirectly presented political message in the film - a stable society must be grounded in law, not the whim of the rich and powerful - which remains true today.  It's really tough to give a complete review since the print of the film I saw was so poor. However the film moves along at a nice pace, has a good story and what I think are some great fights from what I could see.

Not a bad film to kill some time if you were a fan of Kung Fu Theater back in the 80's. 

A Girl Called Tigress (1973)

Right off the top let me say that Polly Shang Kuan may be the best female fighter in Kung Fu cinema. If not the best, she's certainly in the top 5. Major ass is kicked in this film. She did not get training from the Peking Opera like many of the other female martial arts stars but over the years she got a black belt in taekwando, karate and judo. Kuan could play both a silly female role or a serious role.  In this film she was a serious ass kicker.

Kuan plays a spunky girl looking for her sister. (Also played by Kuan)  She gets into numerous fights with the minions of the local crime boss and makes a friend with a guy (Kam Kong) and when he realizes she's a little short on cash, he puts her up in the local hotel. She eventually finds her sister who is shacking up with the crime boss and they pull a switch since they're twins. The boss discovers the switch and the fighting commences.

I'll whip your ass boy.

The fighting in this film is very good.  It seems to be more karate instead of Chinese Kung Fu.  Kuan has good kicks and an excellent presence whenever she's onscreen...with both her acting and fighting.  Kam is rather weak in the film and wasn't nearly as impressive fighting or kicking. His moves are sometimes clumsy and seem to be lacking in power.  But the best fighter is villain Yasuaki Kurata.  The only problem is he doesn't fight enough. But it's obvious in his fights that he has the better technique and is much more graceful than the rest of the cast.  The blame for some of the short comings could probably be blamed on the action director.  They can easily make or break a martial arts film.

These gentleman are about to get their ass kicked by a woman.

One surprise for me was Pink Floyd being ripped off and used in the soundtrack.  The chances that they were paid royalties are zero to none.  Sort of strange to see ass kicking and Pink Floyd popping up in the same vehicle.

Overall, this is an average martial arts film but it is an enjoyable experience if you're a fan of the genre. It's a treat to see Polly Kuan kicking so much ass and there are worse ways to spend 80 minutes.

Know your role woman.